SINGAPORE, Oct 14 Oil prices edged up on Friday,
pushed by a tighter U.S. fuel market and as technical indicators
attracted buying from financial players, but doubts over the
feasibility of a planned production cut still weighed on
markets.

Following a dip in early trading, international Brent crude
futures were trading at $52.18 per barrel at 0643 GMT,
up 15 cents, or 0.29 percent from their previous close.

After falling below $50 a barrel on Thursday, U.S. West
Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading at $50.78 per
barrel, up 34 cents or 0.67 percent from its last close.

Traders said the U.S. price rise was due to a tightening
fuel market.

"Oil prices rose overnight despite rising stockpiles in the
U.S., as fuel supplies in the U.S. fell to the lowest level this
year," ANZ bank said in a morning note on Friday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a drop
of 3.7 million barrels for distillates late on Thursday, which
include diesel and heating oil, and a 1.9-million barrel decline
for gasoline.

However, U.S. crude stocks rose for the first
time in six weeks, swelling by 4.9 million barrels in the week
to Oct. 7 to 474 million barrels.

Outside the United States, traders said that Brent prices
were being supported by technical indicators, which had
attracted investment from financial market participants.

Reuters' technical analyst Wang Tao said Brent could test
resistance at $52.49 per barrel, a break above which could lead
to a gain to $53.45.

The price rises came despite rising doubts that a planned
oil output cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) and potentially non-OPEC member Russia would be
sufficient to rein in a global production overhang standing at
around half a million barrels per day (bpd) in excess of
consumption.

"Oil prices continue to trend up despite our doubts around
OPEC's dubious return to the quota system," U.S. bank Jefferies
said on Friday.

"Talk of cutting output in some quarters appears to be
morphing into talks of a freeze in supply. We are doubtful that
OPEC's efforts, even if successful in achieving a targeted
32.5 million bpd in collective output, will prove sufficient to
materially alter the global oil balance and deliver a
substantial reduction in oil inventories," French bank BNP
Paribas said in a note to clients.

OPEC's crude oil production stood at a record 33.6 million
bpd in September PRODN-TOTAL.

ANKARA, Dec 9 Turkey will hold a referendum by
next May on constitutional changes expanding the powers of
President Tayyip Erdogan, who survived an attempted July coup
and is now conducting a purge of suspected participants, from
generals to judges and journalists.

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